Brandon Burton pulled a UCLA hat out of his back pocket on national TV and raised two hands with UCLA gloves on toward the SportsCenter camera. The former Serra star’s commitment to UCLA on Feb. 2, 2016 was a victory for then-head coach Jim Mora, who had successfully infiltrated a longtime USC recruiting stronghold to get the four-star safety.

The win was short-lived for the Bruins as Burton, a rising junior, announced he will be transferring Friday on Twitter having played sparingly as a backup in his UCLA career.

“It’s been a fun ride while it lasted but it’s time to open a new chapter of my life,” Burton posted in a tweet with a statement thanking Mora and current UCLA head coach Chip Kelly.

Burton was the second UCLA football player to announce his transfer on Friday, joining walk-on quarterback Jackson Gibbs, who wrote on Twitter that he will be heading to Appalachian State.

I'm excited to announce that Im transferring to Appalachian State University! I want to thank all my coaches and teammates who've made me a better football player and overall person this past year. I'm going to miss UCLA deeply but pumped to start my new chapter as a mountaineer! pic.twitter.com/6BZyRsreZI

The departures are the latest in many roster changes that have taken hold in the early stages of the Kelly era. Several players including running back Jalen Starks, safety DeChaun Holiday and defensive lineman Greg Rogers are also pursuing transfers.

Offensive lineman Stephan Zabié did not return to the team for spring practice. Cornerback Denzel Fisher announced a transfer to West Virginia in the spring.

Tight end Jimmy Jaggers and offensive lineman Jax Wacaser have announced medical retirements due to repeated concussions.

Burton participated in spring practice, rotating with the starting linebacker group at times. The one-time highly touted safety was moved to linebacker last year to help the Bruins at a position that was hit by injuries. He appeared in 20 games at UCLA, primarily on special teams, collecting only eight tackles. He said he’ll “open (his) recruitment fully” while searching for his next school.

Gibbs, a rising redshirt freshman, was the fourth-string quarterback during spring practice, but would have been buried further on the depth chart with the arrivals of incoming freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson and graduate transfer Wilton Speight.

Thuc Nhi Nguyen has covered UCLA for the Southern California News Group since 2016. A proud Seattle native, she majored in journalism and mathematics at the University of Washington. She likes graphs, animated GIFs and superheroes.